A logo is a mark. An identity is the set of rules that makes a site, a deck and a social post look like the same company.
A logo answers one question: how do people recognise your name. An identity answers the next ones: what colours you use, how your headlines look, how you sound. Without those answers every new page or post is designed from scratch — and looks like it.
What an identity includes
- Mark: the logo and its versions for small and large sizes, light and dark backgrounds.
- Colour: a palette with roles — background, accent, what is never used together.
- Typography: one or two typefaces with sizes and weights for headings, text and interface.
- Voice: a short guide to tone, with example lines.
- Applications: the system shown on real things — site, social templates, documents.
- Guidelines: a compact document your team and contractors can follow.
When a logo is enough
If you are validating an idea, a clean wordmark, two colours and one typeface will carry a landing page. Spend the effort on the offer first. It is better to have a simple, consistent look than an ambitious system applied halfway.
When you need the system
- Several people or contractors make materials for you.
- You are about to build a website and the designer would otherwise invent the rules along the way.
- You are raising money or selling to larger companies, where a consistent look reads as reliability.
- The current look grew piece by piece and no two materials match.
Identity and website together
A website is the largest application of a brand, so the two are best designed in one process: decisions about colour and type are tested on real pages at once, and nothing has to be adapted later. See how the pieces work as one system in the Solen concept.
An identity does not have to be large. A few clear rules that everyone follows do more than a long guideline nobody opens.
What we deliver in a branding project is listed on the brand identity page.
